For All the Tabacco in this Cigarette, for Rukia
by SadCigarette
Summary: [IchigoxRukia] Ichigo begins to battle hollows again with the help of Rukia. He also begins to battle his feelings for Rukia as well for the safety of something that's been misplaced...This will have lemons. ..Still in progress! :D
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It had been sunny, yet chilly out for weeks. Ichigo forced himself up on his elbows and let out an exasperating sound as he performed his regular morning stretch in his bed, still on his elbows. You know, one of those stretches where you hardly move, but there's no feeling better than it. Wearing his classic white tee shirt and blue plaid boxers, he was satisfied with his amount of sleep. He gazed at the clock above his white bearer, but he couldn't see the time. His vision was still pleasantly blurry from a great night's sleep. Something was different about this morning…

It was about Rukia. He lay his head back down on the long pillow that Rukia was unconscious on. She was right next to him. When he finally had clear vision, he shot a quick glance at the clock once more, hoping that it wasn't time for school.

He was restless the previous night; he'd been playing an extremely competitive yet seemingly endless game of Monopoly with Rukia, and it carried on for so long that they'd completely lost track of the time. They exchanged many laughs all night long, and he didn't remember falling asleep. The last thing he remembered was the sound of Rukia's tired voice as he was falling asleep. He was struggling to remember what they had been talking about before he just, well, passed out.

The time was 6:30 am.

"Shit!"

Forcing himself up, Ichigo rolled right around Rukia and out of the bed. He ripped off his pajama tee shirt and quickly, without considering Rukia being right there in the room with him changed his boxers. He was quickly pulling on his pants, and just as he was about to pull them all the way up the house phone rang. Before he even had a chance to curse the phone, he heard someone walking up the stairs. Of all the experiences and horrors in his life, he's never been so freaked…Someone coming up the stairs, Rukia in his bed…

"Oh, God damn it!" He forced himself forwards, but as he did so, he forgot about the pair of gray khakis around his ankles and fell hard to the cherry wood floor. Instinctively, he flew up and jumped back in bed, right over Rukia and pulled the snow white comforter over the both of them, and to his surprise, not to mention fear, she didn't even wake up. She just lay there, with an adorable, yet quiet smile across her face, and lightly breathing through her delicate nose. He pulled the comforter completely over both of their heads. Karin opened the door not a millisecond later.

"Yuzu made you Bacon and Eggs for breakfast-wait, why are you undressed and all covered up!?"

"I was just getti-"

"Gross!"

She closed the door pretty hard, seemingly out of disgust. Ichigo could only find himself laughing at this. He lifted the snow white comforter, revealing Rukia sound asleep right at his side. He wasn't upset. He just smiled down at his companion. He was glad to see her comfortable.

He was falling back into his deep and solemn slumber, but before he was completely unconscious, he was surprised by the rain that had begun tapping on the window.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Two weeks earlier

It was a normal day: Everyone was at school, and all of their parents were at work. Some people were passing on rumors, and some were talking about their weekends and some of the girls were talking about how they'd accomplished to mentally terrorize some guy's brain. Some of the guys, specifically the jocks, were talking about and exaggerating the same stories that those girls told, only in their own perspectives, saying things like, "Yeah, she took it all off! I wanted to fuck her right then and there, but she said I'd have to wait another few weeks for her to decide!" The most common used phrase among there group though, was, "What the fuck does she need to 'wait a few weeks' for?"

The other guys were the lesser 'cool' ones, and they were busy shoving every ounce of their personal focus into their work, whether it was in the classroom, or the library. Everyone was busy today. Ichigo was busy exchanging conversation with Rukia, as was she with him. This was a normal Monday.

"They weren't mine."

"_They weren't mine._ Fool, you even smell like it often."

"I don't smoke, Rukia!" Ichigo didn't yell, but he loudly whispered.

"Shut up! People are looking!" She whispered back just as loudly.

"Don't tell me to shut up! I've just as much to speak as you do!" Ichigo was now yelling.

"Fool! Have you forgotten where we are?" Rukia said back with an angry look on her face.

Small arguments like these often took place between Ichigo and Rukia as a result of their respective prides, but they were always forgotten soon afterwards. They were companions, and they wouldn't let small things like that break their companionship. It was one of those subconscious things.

"Can either of you tell me, please, what radical four to the third power divided by eighteen to the ninth power is?"

"Hm? You should ask Rukia…"

"…Ichigo was telling me something; therefore I was not paying attention. Forgive me."

"Okay, well this is every single day; I need to tell you both at one point or another to keep quiet. I've been pretty cool with this for a while, but this is the last straw. You're never going to learn anything if you don't pay attention to my lessons. As of tomorrow, you're both having your seats changed so that you can't be near each other, therefore not talk to each other, and as for now, I'm beeping in with the main office to let them know that you'll both be on your way down for the rest of this period. I'm sorry I have to do this, but it's the only way to help you two to learn…"

If the entire class wasn't looking in annoyance at them for disrupting the class again, Rukia and Ichigo both would be on the ground laughing at how their teacher was trying to take "serious" action, despite his politeness.

The hallways were always much smaller with nobody else in them.

"Do you think we'll have after school or weekend detention this time?" Ichigo asked with a sarcastic tone to his voice.

"I don't know, but…but how did he manage to be mean, by being so polite?" Rukia was laughing a little bit to herself.

"Yeah, I think he was putting us on a guilt trip or something. But you know what? Everyone disrupts his class; he only picks on us for some reason."

"No matter. School's of no importance to me." Rukia calmly said.

"Well, at least did you hear him trying to be 'hip?' He said, 'I've been pretty _cool_ with this for a while…' The guy's over 60 something years old!" Ichigo and Rukia were laughing with each other.

The hallways were still small, getting smaller by the minute, and the distance was getting shorter by the second.

The main office was both large and small in a sense, but it was recognizably both. It was very decorative, with wood finished panels on each wall, and a high cathedral ceiling. They both seated themselves next to each other, hoping that they could pull it off without being scolded. As soon as they tried to start conversation-

"You both can't sit next to each other."

The secretary was old and didn't seem like the type of person you'd like to just walk up to and start conversation. Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other, seeing who would move first. This soon became a challenge, and they weren't just looking at each other anymore, they were glaring.

Ichigo insisted, "I was here first."

"We came here together!"

"But I sat down _first_!"

"And I'm a lady, so be a gentleman and move!"

"I'd never act a gentleman for a lady who acts like a man."

Rukia bit her tongue, and revealed the hurt in her eyes for a split second, and changed from hurt Rukia to angry Rukia, which, by the way, were two completely different people in Ichigo's eyes. She quickly stood up, and moved as far away as possible from Ichigo. It actually seem like she bolted across the entire room. And she just stared at him for a long, cold time. At first, Ichigo just smiled and laughed, in hope that she'd shoot her friendly smile that she rarely gave him. But she wouldn't change her face. She was actually pissed. Ichigo mouthed the words "I'm sorry," but she didn't seem to take notice. And this was starting to piss off Ichigo. Although he was the one at fault, he didn't want to be treated like his words meant nothing.

When the period was over, Ichigo reasoned with himself and he was pretty tame again. He walked over to Rukia, and he apologized to her. Rukia didn't care if he'd apologized a thousand times, that one had really hurt her. Rukia put her head down, didn't respond, and got lost in her own thoughts.

"_Well, I don't have a dick, and I certainly don't act like one, therefore I know I'm not a man…But still, you don't just say something like that off the top of your head unless you mean it…Maybe he thinks I have a male figure…maybe he thinks I have a square jaw…oh my God, do I have facial hair and not know? How do I not know?"_

"Well, do you want me to?" Ichigo interrupted her thoughts and she looked up at his impatient face. The bell was ringing, signaling that the period was over.

"Do I want you to what?" Rukia asked confused. She missed what he even asked her in the first place, because she was too carried away with her paranoia.

"Do you want me to walk you to class?" Despite his effort to make up for what he'd said earlier, Ichigo was getting even more steamed by the minute. She knew that he hated when someone wasn't listening to him. But she didn't reply. She just closed her eyes and turned the other way.

"Look, Rukia. I apologized to you over a dozen times, I don't know whether or not you heard nor saw my lip synching, but I asked you if you'd let me walk you to your next class about four or five times. Is it going to be a yes, or a no?" He was getting impatient.

"No…that's okay, Ichigo. A man could walk himself to class without any worries." She said sarcastically, but a little upset.

She closed her eyes and slowly walked away. Even though he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to go after her and apologize again. She made her decision, so there was nothing for him to do. He was a little angry with himself for hurting her feelings, but he figured she would get over it by the time school was out. He walked himself to his last class of the day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Ichigo started towards the stairs when he met Rukia.

"Listen…about before…" Ichigo started.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry that I just ran away like that." Rukia apologized.

They were walking towards the front doors of the high school and went down the patio.

"You know, you're very charismatic." She gave a soft, but sweet laugh.

"Oh yeah?" He replied.

"No matter what you say to me, it's always…always…"

"It's always what?" He replied, with a smirk on his face.

"It's always a _pleasure_ to talk to you, Ichigo." She said with a sarcastic tone, and she was smiling.

"Yeah, you too Rukia. You too." He replied, smiling also. "Hey Rukia, what do you say we walk to the bridge right now?"

"Which bridge? You mean the high one above the gulf?" She asked.

"Yeah, that bridge. I like to go there every once in a while." He said it so calm, like he could wait, but he seemed just too eager to just go.

"Sure!" Rukia replied. She had a very quick reaction, and to Ichigo's surprise, she had seemed just as eager as he was.

The walk was very long and about three quarters the way there, the sun was starting to go down. Ichigo ran into a sprint, leaving Rukia very confused.

"Catch me if you can!" He playfully yelled back at her, but she'd quickly accepted his challenge. She ran right behind him, trying to catch up. But every time she caught up to him, he seemed to run faster than he was a minute ago.

"C'mon, we need to get there in time!" Ichigo repeatedly yelled back at her.

Rukia was so confused, she didn't know what he was talking about, but every time she thought that she'd caught up to him, and he got faster, and she wanted to just give up.

Ichigo was nearly 30 feet in front of her now. By the time she'd reached the bridge, she was panting. She was at the foot of the bridge, and when she looked up, Ichigo was just standing there at the tip of the bridge waiting for her. She was already out of breath from running, and when she caught up with Ichigo at the climax of the bridge, she scolded him.

"Wha…What the hell is... your problem?" She was so out of breath. "You know still how hard it is for me to run in a faux body!"

"There isn't any problem. You're out of breath, don't speak." He pulled out of pack of cigarettes. Rukia looked up at him, and she was dumbfounded.

"Ichigo…are you smoking?!" She yelled at him.

"Chill out. It's no big deal, just a little bit of stress. It's not like I'm throwing away my-"

"Yes, you are throwing away your life Ichigo! Did you ever even consider possibility of lung cancer?" She cut him off, but was a little tamer and still disappointed.

"I know, Rukia, but-"

"But what, Ichigo? You could talk to me if you're stressed…you don't have to smoke your life away. Remember, I'm always going to be your friend." Now she wasn't raging, but she was sad. Ichigo knew she was absolutely right, though, and assumed that she felt like he was putting a few cigarettes over his friend.

"Jeez, why do you even care so much, anyway?" He asked. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and tossed it in the water, followed by his entire pack. This wasn't like Ichigo, though. Usually, he was competitive and always up for an argument.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "Ichigo, do you want to talk to me? Is there something that you need to talk about? You know I'm here for you." She explained to him with a calm voice.

"There's…nothing to talk about. Sorry." He had that serious look on his face, that same look that made Rukia worry so much, yet she adored it. She'd sensed that there was something enormous devouring Ichigo's mind. She didn't want to bother him, knowing that he'd even had stress in the first place, and she didn't want to interrupt whatever was on his mind. But she didn't like the fact that he was holding whatever it was in. She thought that whatever was bothering him may affect and possible decrease his spirit energy. Not only that, but she wanted him to trust her with what was on his mind; she knew that she would always trust him with what was on hers. She just gave him a heart warming smile and asked him not worry about anything.

They started to walk back to the Kurosaki clinic. It was dark out now, and they were almost back home. They both stopped under a stoplight that was shining down on only the two of them. They felt like the only two people in the world, because it was so bright where they were, and so dark outside of the beaming circle around them. Ichigo was just about to say something when Rukia spoke first.

"Ichigo, how long have you been smoking?" She asked him quietly.

"What's with you always asking me questions?" He quickly shot back.

"I just need to know, so I'd appreciate if you'd just at least tell me." She said impatiently.

"Well, I think I started as soon as we came back from the Soul Society…yeah, somewhere around that time." He sounded so relaxed, he had his hands in his pockets and made it seem like it was no big deal at all. It meant a lot to Rukia, though; she needed and wanted him to be healthy. They were close friends.

"Do you think you're addicted, Ichigo?" She asked. He just walked over to her, lifted his right arm. She hadn't expected it, but he just kind of ruffled the top of her head a little bit.

"I'll stop just for you, okay? Just promise you'll get off my back a little bit; I can't breathe when you do that to me." He said. And he started walking again in his same old fashioned way, slow and casual, with the infamous hands-behind-the-head act. Rukia just smiled and she realized that her friendship with Ichigo was becoming stronger every day. She knew he cared about their friendship just as much as she had. This was one of her most sensitive subjects. Ichigo never knew that she cared so much about it though, and she wouldn't even admit it to herself. She didn't want to have any weakness. She was putting her pride before her friendship quietly.

At long last when the came to reach the Kurosaki clinic, Ichigo told Rukia to keep quiet for a moment; he opened the door slowly, and as soon as he got inside, he started for the stairs. When he reached the top, his sister, Karin, started to question him where he was all day.

"I went to the bridge with my friend-" he started.

"Ichigo, you smell like smoke…" she cut him off.

"I was just talking to some kids who were."

"Right…I'm not stupid, you know." And at that, she walked past him and went back down the stairs. When Ichigo opened the door to his room, Rukia was half way through the window already. He closed the door quietly behind him.

"Need a hand?" he asked politely, and extended out his hand. But not knowing she hadn't seen him or heard him open the door, he'd put her in complete and utter shock. In other words, he scared the shit out of her. She would have fallen out the window if he hadn't caught her. He slowly pulled her in, and noticed that she had a large scrape across her calf. He carried her in and placed her on his bed. She was sitting upright now, panting heavily from the shock that he'd recently put her in.

"Are you alright, Rukia?" he asked her.

"Yeah…I just got scared, that's all." she replied to him, almost breathless.

"No, no I mean your leg. It's bleeding pretty badly." he pointed to it to show her, but from her reaction, he'd assumed that she didn't know about it.

"Alright, hang on; I'm gonna go get you some bandages and wet paper towels. I'll be right back, lock my door just in case my either one of my sisters or my dad tries to come in."

He went into the bathroom to get a box of bandages for her, and then went down the stairs and to the kitchen for some wet paper towels. He picked up bottled water from the refrigerator. Although he never noticed before, he suddenly wanted to take care of Rukia.

When he arrived upstairs, he was surprised at what she asked him as soon as she'd opened the door for him.

"Why are you being so nice to me today? What's the catch?" she asked with suspicion.

"What are you talking about?"

"Ichigo, we both know you're not usually this friendly." She quietly said to him.

Thy both walked slowly over to his bed, and she resumed her position sitting on the edge of it. He stood in front of her and dropped himself on one knee. He started washing her cut off with a wet paper towel.

"Whatever could _that_ mean?" He replied to her sarcastically.

"_That_ means that you're usually this stubborn and selfish person, but right now you're not." She'd replied back with her eyes closed and a calm voice.

"What, you _don't_ want me to be friendly to you?" he playfully countered her insult.

She'd opened her eyes again, revealing a beautiful violet color in each iris, and made a quiet gasp sound as she did. It was another challenge.

"No, no it's not like that! You're just…different, tonight." She said back to him.

"Well, is a good different, or a bad one?" he asked her with a hint of a smile on his face.

"It's…I don't know, you've just been a lot friendlier since we've been at the bridge today." She said with a quiet look on her face.

He finished cleaning her cut off, and was ready to put a bandage on it. He opened the box and put the bandage directly in the core of the bleeding.

"Ichigo, you know I know how to apply a bandage to my leg. Jeez, you're acting like a parent to-"

"Will you just shut up and let me take care of you?" He cut her off. "And you never really let me explain before. You kind of just cut me off when I tried to talk to you about it after school was out; come to think of it, you kind of cut me off all day. But I was going to apologize to you about that remark I made. I mean, hell, if someone told me I looked like a girl I'd be pretty pissed off, too." He thought he'd explained pretty carefully.

"Is there something wrong with how girls look?" She playfully asked him.

"Not how they look, just how they all have one thing in common; they confuse the hell out of guys." He playfully said back to her.

He handed her the bottled water. She grabbed the bottle from him and said to him sarcastically, "Yes, Ichigo, _that_ is _exactly_ what our primary goal is. It's a shame that you've picked up on that, though, because now I can't confuse the hell out of you." Then Rukia did something that Ichigo didn't expect. She lowered her right hand to where his head was and ruffled the top of his head. He stood himself up, and just stared down at her. She started to feel like she'd done something wrong until she saw him smile down at her.

"And who exactly gave you permission to do that?" He said with a deeper voice than normally, but an unusually happy one at the same time.

"Nobody." She'd replied. "I just wanted to confuse the hell out of you." She'd explained, and walked over to the closet smiling. She then looked at the clock on his wall.

"You spent so much time on healing me that you didn't have to shower…"

"Yeah…it's no big deal. Have a good night, Rukia."

She looked back at him, smiled and only said "You too, boy." And she left it at that. The closet door was closed for the night, and Ichigo went over to turn out to lights. He crawled under his covers and soon felt warm. Then, the closet opened again.

"Move over, boy." Rukia suddenly told him. She was now wearing her yellow plaid pajamas, the ones that used to belong to Ichigo's sister, Yuzu, before she'd stolen them from her.

"I beg your pardon?" Ichigo was confused now.

"I told you to move over, I don't expect you to refuse." Rukia demanded.

Ichigo hesitated at first, but he couldn't help himself. He surrendered to her demand for some reason, and slowly slid over towards the wall.

"And don't take all the blankets over with you. It's been chilly out lately." She said with a serious look.

"What? Don't you have my other blanket in the closet?" Ichigo now felt like he was losing control over _his_ items. Rukia didn't even listen and slid right into bed next to him.

"Share the blankets, Ichigo."

"No. No way! You have your own, go-"

Before he'd even finished, he tore the comforter right out of his hands and off of his body and placed it quickly and neatly over her body.

"I'm not moving, so if you want your comforter back, you'll have to come closer and share with me." Rukia said looking him straight in the eye. Ichigo slid over closer to her, and felt strange but comfortable and warm. He was looking at the ceiling, but he knew that Rukia was looking at him. He could feel the violet in her irises reflecting off of the moonlight out of his window and onto his face. They didn't speak for a long time, and finally, Ichigo asked her, "Why are you in my bed?"

"No special reason, except that fact that there's no heat in the closet." She said back, satisfied with her own answer.

"Is it going to be like this _all winter?_" He asked her with a little paranoia in his voice.

"Well, winter _is_ the coldest season of the year, isn't it?" She said with a smile on her face.

"Right…this is my bed though, and I feel like your invading my privacy." He explained.

"Your _privacy?_ Is that the only thing that concerns you when someone is cold and comes to you?" She coldly asked him.

"Not _somebody_, just you." He said back to her sarcastically and ruffled the top of her head. "Confused?" He asked smiling. He shut his eyes and lay his head back. He was waiting for an answer, but she didn't reply. His eyes were still shut, and he was still waiting. Not too much longer, he'd felt Rukia's breath on the side of his neck, and he decided to open his eyes again. As soon as he opened them, he saw Rukia even closer to him. She looked back at him, and then her spirit phone started beeping wildly.

"A hollow." Rukia said with an upset voice.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Ichigo!" Rukia cried.

"Huh?"

At that moment, Rukia slammed her gloved right hand right into Ichigo's chest, releasing his soul out of his body. His body lay lifeless in the bed. Rukia jumped recklessly onto Ichigo's back, and he instinctively carried grabbed her legs. He jumped out of his window and broke into a quick dash as soon as he hit the ground.

"Where are we going, Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

"Third district, towards the park." Rukia answered.

He began running even faster and harder. They were passing through many shadows of buildings along the way, and Ichigo was gradually running faster and faster. "Rukia, do you mind if the ride gets a little bumpy?" He smiled. Without waiting for an answer, Ichigo jumped onto a rooftop and started jumping across a countless number more. Rukia's grip on Ichigo's shoulders got even tighter, almost tight enough to crush his collar bones. The full moon was now beaming them with it's supernatural brightness. Ichigo was running even faster than before. He was running so fast that Rukia was struggling just to hold onto him.

Ichigo slowed down once they neared the park. Rukia slowly allowed herself off of Ichigo's back.

"Okay. Let's go." She quietly said. As they entered the park, the moon was reflecting it's light on every single blade of grass. Rukia flipped open her spirit phone to find out where the hollow was, but there was no signal anymore.

"What? No signal?" She was puzzled.

"Maybe Uryuu got here before we did." Ichigo tried to explain.

They both put their heads down, as if they were defeated. It's true that Uryuu was a friend of theirs, but as much as either Ichigo or Rukia liked to admit it, they actually enjoyed defeating hollows together.

"That dick…" Ichigo began.

"Alright…let's go back home, then." Rukia quietly said. As soon as they turned around, a familiar voice was calling after them.

"Rukia! Ichigo!"

"Orihime!" Rukia yelled back. She began towards Orihime. As soon as she was close enough to recognize her face, the strangest expression was revealed on Orihime's face. It was an odd mix of confusion and worry.

"Orihime…Orihime, what is it? What's wrong?" Rukia began to ask.

"He's over there!" She began to cry. She pointed to where a body was laying on the ground, soaked in blood.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled.

"I'm on it!" Ichigo yelled back. He ran towards where Orihime had pointed before, and was off.

"Orihime…" Rukia began. Orihime was crying so badly that she couldn't even breathe. She was choking on her own breath and tears, and she fell to her knees. Instinctively, Rukia dropped down and caught her, and began to comfort her.

"Please don't cry, Orihime. Ichigo will destroy it…you've seen how high his spirit power is…" Rukia tried to explain.

"It…it's not that…I know he could…just…Uryuu…Uryuu!" She began to cry even harder now.

Ichigo began running towards Uryuu, and when he got there, he dropped to his knees to get a better look at his friends face. It was bleeding endlessly, and so was his back. There seemed to be an incredibly large scrape that started from the bottom of his neck all the way down his back and stopped at his the upper part of his right thigh.

"Uryuu! What the hell happened?"

"It…it's incredible…" Uryuu began. He was hyperventilating at such a large rate, that it was hard for Ichigo to even make out what he was saying.

"What? The hollow?" Ichigo asked.

"It's…it's very strong…It's too strong…" At that, Uryuu passed out, laying face down. He was still alive though. Ichigo stood up and faced the moon. He waited nearly four minutes when the sky just suddenly seemed to crack open. A Menos looked straight down at Ichigo through the crack and started to slowly approach him. The Menos, a hollow born when over a hundred individual hollows pile atop each other and intermingle, was nearly three hundred feet tall, but Ichigo had seen it before. Ichigo had seen it in the past coincidently when he was battling other hollows with Uryuu. This Menos was nothing compared to other hollows. Apparently, there was never a Soul Reaper who's defeated it before. Ichigo was determined to break defy that.

"Zangetsu!" Ichigo cried. Ichigo released his Zangetsu and started delivering heavy blows towards the Menos. It started to back away, when a large red replica of the moon began to form near it's mouth. The orb overpowered the beaming moon, and the whole field began to reflect a red hue.

"Ichigo! Run away!" Rukia cried. She was now standing near him.

"Run away during battle? Are you serious?"

"You know what it can do, Ichigo!" Rukia yelled back at him.

"I know what it can do, Rukia. And it needs to learn what _I _can do!" He began towards the Menos at a magnificently fast pace. He was drawing nearer and nearer to it. As soon as he reached the Menos' foot, he jumped nearly three hundred feet and delivered and incredible blow to it's mask. The Menos began to cry loudly as Zangetsu sliced right through it's mask and shattered it. Rukia was speechless. She hadn't believed what she'd seen. She knew that Ichigo was strong, but she didn't know he was capable of defeating a Menos. She'd seen him battle other Soul Reapers in Soul Society and come out victorious, but not even they were capable of defeating a Menos.

The Menos started to disappear into a dissolving black aura, but before it was completely faded, it sliced right at Ichigo's chest. Blood spilled all over the ground. Ichigo was badly wounded. Had the Menos sliced even an inch further into him, and it would have completely shattered his spine. In other words, he was nearly sliced in half by a single blow. Rukia ran over to where Ichigo was.

"I don't…I don't remember the Menos having arms…" Ichigo was hyperventilating now, too.

"It must have evolved itself when it was hiding from Uryuu…" Rukia concluded.

"…Bastard…" Ichigo fell hard to the ground. The battle was quickly over, and the Menos was eliminated. Rukia kneeled down near Ichigo and softly lay on top of him.

"You're so careless, Ichigo…" Rukia put her head down. She then sat up and lay his head down on her lap. "Stay alive. We need you." She said. Ichigo then passed out. Rukia picked him and carried him in her arms. He was heavy, but she wanted to take care of him.

"Orihime…please, if you can, Bring Uryuu home." She said. Without a word, Orihime ran over to Uryuu and picked him up. She held him in her arms as well, and without even saying goodbye she left the park in silence. Rukia began towards the Kurosaki clinic. It was a very long and cold walk.

As soon as she'd reached the Kurosaki clinic, she silently opened the door and carried Ichigo up the stairs and into his room. She'd restored his soul back into his body. As soon as she did so, she noticed blood starting to form in a shape of straight line across his white tee shirt. Rukia quickly got up and took out her healing accessories. She took his shirt off. She then began to heal his wound by wrapping plenty of white bandage around it. She pulled a new shirt on him, one of his white tee shirts. She noticed that she had his blood stains all over her pajamas, and took another pair of his pajama pants and one of her very favorite shirts that Ichigo had, a white one with the words "Sad Cigarette" written across it in small black text. Rukia walked over to the light switch and turned it off. She rested her head against his chest. They lay there in silence for over an hour. Ichigo was breathing excessively and heavily. He finally spoke.

"Ru…Rukia…" He started

"Don't speak, Ichigo. Please just rest." She calmly said. He opened his eyes and looked directly at her.

"You…you saved me…Rukia…" He quietly said.

"Of course." She gently laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'm…suppose…I'm supposed to take care…of you…" He began again with a smile on his face. Rukia began to realize that he really did care about their friendship just as much as she did.

"I can't take care of you? She asked sarcastically. "You were the first to see me…you were the first to even notice me Ichigo." She explained.

"I was…always able to…see spirits." He tried to sit up, but blood was excessively flowing out of the boundaries of the bandage. He began to groan. Rukia then gently lay him back down.

"You fool…"She said quietly. "I don't mean my _spirit._ What I'm saying is…even the other Soul Reapers in Soul Society didn't even know me…Renji abandoned me…my own brother, Captain Kuchiki didn't even once _notice_ me until I gave you my powers…but you, you were the first person to get to know _me._ Not just my appearance. And…I always somehow get you hurt." She put her head down in shame. She didn't even want to face Ichigo. She quickly sat up on the edge of the bed.

"You take care of me…and…you say you hurt me?" Ichigo rolled over. He started to groan even more. "…Rukia…you're my…" He fell back and started groaning so much. He tore open his wound again.

"I'm so sorry-" She began.

"Shut up, Rukia…you're my best friend." He said it so quietly. Rukia turned back around to see him. She couldn't even speak. For a minute, she thought she'd been imagining what he'd just told her. She lay back down in bed with him and pulled the covers over the both of them. She began to stroke the side of her face with the back of her hand and felt tears on the side of his face. She didn't know whether or not this was from the pain of his wound, or what she'd said. Maybe it was both. But regardless, it caused her eyes begin watering. She knew exactly at that moment that she'd really started feeling an incredible amount of feelings towards him. She rested her head on his extended arm and whispered in his ear.

"You're my best friend, too."


End file.
